1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system allowing group identification information to be publicly available and to be hidden, a wireless access point device, and a communication method and program for a wireless access point device.
2. Related Background Art
A conventional wireless LAN system based on the IEEE 802.11X standards needs to set the same group identifier (SSID) in an access point and a terminal. This setup, which requires consideration of a difference in topology such as an ad hoc mode or an infrastructure mode, suits a user who is rather familiar to a personal computer (PC), but does not suit a PC beginner. Recent techniques in this field include a system in which an application on a terminal automatically detects a plurality of nearby group identifiers (SSID), creates a list of access points to which the terminal can be connected based on detection results, and causes a user to select an access point to be connected from the list. Aside from the consideration of security using encryption, such a wireless communication support can establish a connection to a network almost automatically without complicate operations by a user. Those situations have started to apply the above recent techniques to home use.
In addition, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is generally used as a security system. According to the WEP, a key shared between a wireless access point and a wireless client is used to encrypt communication data to be transmitted. Thus, even if the transmission is tapped, information cannot be read as long as a cipher key is not decrypted. However, the cipher key according to the WEP encryption system can logically be decrypted with much time, which infers that the WEP can never provide a perfect security system.
Meanwhile, in the case where a wireless LAN system is used for office use such as use in an enterprise, higher importance is placed on a security issue than for home use.
It is possible a group identifier (SSID) made publicly available is undesirably accessed by a wireless terminal (vicious third party) irrelevant to a user. In view of this, access point devices having a stealth mode, in which the group identifier (SSID) is hidden intentionally after confirmation of an established connection to a desired wireless terminal, are expanding in the market in recent years.
However, in order that the access point devices having a stealth mode with the group identifier (SSID) hidden intentionally may accept a connection to a new wireless terminal, the user of a wireless terminal previously learns the group identifier (SSID) and individually performs setup. Alternatively, an administrator of the access point device cancels the stealth mode temporarily, and causes the user to select a list of access points that can be accessed. Accordingly, the administrator of the access, point device and the user of the wireless terminal conventionally require complicate operations, remarkably reducing convenience and operability of the system.